Finally Decided

Well I found out today, that they will close the doors on Feb 8th
2002. At my full time job. I will have to stay to the end of Feb, to
do the final closing. They treated me allright. I will get paid for my vacation which is 4 weeks . Also I will get a severence. Do not know how much that will be yet?

The thing that made me feel good is that when my wife called @ lunch today, I told her about the final day of closing, because it has been up in the air for a while now. She said "Baby I guess it's time to go full time in Your Lawn Service" Boy that made me feel real good.

dont know about FLA but i believe here if you are laid off, and you can prove youre biz is not paying you that much money, you can qualify for reduced benefits. I believe it is only in exceptional cases. i am assuming you aren't planning on cheating, so you should go in and ask. worse they say is no.

"I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

I was once in that position. Just tell them exactly how much your profit was for that week and they will determine your benefit amount. If this turns out to be THE opportunity I was in, then you will do fine! In my first year, just by handing out flyers, I was able to match my previous income. Good luck to you!

It's true that you can't work and collect unemployment in most states - but you can collect inbetween jobs; say if your mowing is billed by the cut and it rains you out for a whole week, you can collect unemployment that week - at least that makes a good fill-in. Of course, you should verify this with your state - they will answer questions w/o giving your name.

Before you guys jump on him for "cheating", check the facts.
I don't know about his state, but in PA. you can work while on unemployment. Unemployment here pays 60% of your highest quarter at your previous job. You can work to earn the other 40%. You can even earn over the 40% actually (a bit more involved).

Not only can you be employed by someone else, you can start your own business. The terms are though, that it has to be a new business, you cannot have started it before collecting.

Again, other states may be different, but the advice should have been to check with his state, not accuse him of cheating.